Irish Time

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

NOT THE BBC SUX A COX NEWS

European shares are falling, led lower by financial stocks, after the Dutch Finance Minister said the Cyprus deal could set a new template.

The chief of the euro zone finance ministers has questioned whether the ESM bailout fund will ever be used to rescue banks directly, casting fresh doubt over the Irish Government’s demands for more debt relief in Europe.

The remarks by Dutch minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem set off a wave of renewed volatility in financial markets – with heavy losses in Italy and Spain. The Irish Government has insisted, however, that it continues to make progress in its campaign to deploy the ESM to help meet the cost of rescuing Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland.

“We will continue to work with our European partners to ensure Ireland is in a position to avail of the new recapitalisation tools that are being developed,” said a spokesman for the Department of Finance.

The Cypriot deal broke new ground by imposing big losses on large-scale bank depositors and senior bondholders, who were protected in bailouts for Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain. Unlike the agreement which collapsed last week, Cypriot depositors with less than €100,000 will not lose any money.

Mr Dijsselbloem’s suggestion in an interview with Reuters and the Financial Times that the new plan would be a model for the future was at odds with claims by other European leaders that the Cypriot arrangement was unique to the country.

In Dublin a senior Government source said there was no discussion about repeating the Cypriot formula. “If we have even more instruments in terms of bail-in and how far we can go on bail-in, the need for direct recap will become smaller and smaller . . . let’s deal with the banks within the banks first.”

As confusion in the markets followed Mr Dijsselbloem’s comments, Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades addressed the nation regarding €10 billion bailout package for the country. In a 10-minute TV address he asked Cypriots for their patience.

Yesterday, Cypriot residents were coming to terms with the bailout package agreed in Brussels in the early hours of Monday morning. The European Central Bank confirmed yesterday it will continue to supply liquidity to Cyprus’s banking sector.

The Cypriot fiasco has raised worries that other debt-ridden countries with troubled banks may face similar measures as Cyprus, which agreed to close down its second-largest bank and inflict heavy losses on big depositors.

"The action taken sets a dangerous precedent. I just think there's still a little sense of unease," said Berkeley Futures associate director Richard Griffiths.Griffiths said clients were looking to buy "put" options on the German DAX equity index, which give the right to sell an index in the future and are often used on expectations of a market fall. He said investors had taken DAX "puts" due to mature in April with a strike price of 7,700 points, implying that some investors saw a 2 percent fall on the DAX in the coming month.